Contract Bridge

What is Contract Bridge?

Contract bridge is the partnership card game that grew out of whist and took its modern form in 1925, when Harold Vanderbilt added the scoring that rewards bidding exactly what you can make. Four players sit in two partnerships, North-South against East-West. Here you sit South with a computer partner in North, against two computer opponents.

This version plays Chicago, or four-deal bridge: a short match of four deals, each with its own dealer and vulnerability, scored with the full standard table. The computers bid with a plain Standard American system, and a help panel tells you in words what every call means. The computers come in three strengths, and every day brings four new deals, the same for everyone.

How to play

• The deal. All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player.
• The auction. Starting with the dealer and going clockwise, each player passes, doubles, redoubles or bids. A bid names a number of tricks above six (1 to 7) and a strain: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades or no trumps, ranked in that order at each level. Every bid must be higher than the last one. A double is allowed only on the opponents' last bid, a redouble only on your own side's doubled bid. Three passes in a row end the auction; if all four players pass at the start, the cards are dealt again by the same dealer.
• The contract. The last bid is the contract: that side must take at least six tricks plus the level. Of that side, the player who first named the final strain is the declarer.
• The opening lead and the dummy. The player on the declarer's left leads to the first trick. Then the declarer's partner lays the dummy face up, and the declarer plays both hands.
• The play. Follow suit if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads to the next trick.
• When your side declares. You play both hands, your own and North's, whichever of you is the declarer, as a declarer does at a real table. The auction and the opening lead stay exactly as the rules have them.
• Reading the auction. Tap any call in the auction to see what it means: its points, its suit lengths and whether it is forcing. During the play the Auction button opens the whole auction with its meanings. On easy, the help line also suggests a call for your hand.

The bidding system

• Points. High-card points: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1.
• Openings. 1NT shows 15-17 balanced, 2NT 20-21 balanced, 2♣ 22 or more (artificial and forcing, answered 2♦). 1♥ and 1♠ promise five cards and 12-21 points (11 with a long suit); otherwise open the longer minor. A weak two in ♦, ♥ or ♠ shows six cards and 5-10 points, a three-level opening seven cards.
• Responses. A single raise shows three cards and 6-10, a raise to three 10-12 (invitational), a raise to game 13 or more with four cards. A new suit at the one level shows four cards and 6 points or more, and is forcing; at the two level it shows 11 or more. 1NT shows about 6-10 with no fit, 2NT 11-12 balanced, 3NT 13-15 balanced.
• Over 1NT. 2♣ is Stayman, asking for a four-card major. 2♦ and 2♥ are Jacoby transfers to hearts and spades: five cards, any strength. 2NT invites, 3NT is to play.
• Competition. An overcall shows a good five-card suit, 8-16 at the one level and 11-16 at the two level. 1NT over their suit opening shows 15-18 balanced with a stopper. A double of a suit opening is for takeout: 12 or more, short in their suit, three cards in the others. Doubles of 1NT and of contracts higher up are for penalties.
• Slams. With 33 points between the hands the computers look for a slam, asking for aces with Blackwood 4NT (5♣ none or four, 5♦ one, 5♥ two, 5♠ three).

Scoring

• Trick score. Each trick bid above six scores 20 in clubs or diamonds, 30 in hearts or spades, and in no trumps 40 for the first and 30 for each after. Doubled it counts twice, redoubled four times.
• Game and part scores. A trick score of 100 or more is a game: 300 not vulnerable, 500 vulnerable. Less than that is a part score, carried to later deals until either side makes a game, which wipes both sides' part scores. A part score made on the fourth deal that does not complete a game earns 100.
• Slams and extras. A small slam (12 tricks) earns 500, or 750 vulnerable; a grand slam (all 13) 1000, or 1500. Overtricks score their trick value; doubled, 100 each (200 vulnerable), redoubled twice that. Making a doubled contract adds 50, a redoubled one 100.
• Undertricks. Undoubled, 50 a trick (100 vulnerable). Doubled, not vulnerable: 100 for the first, 200 for the second and third, 300 for each after; vulnerable: 200 for the first and 300 for each after. Redoubled, twice the doubled figures.
• Vulnerability. Deal 1: North deals, nobody vulnerable. Deal 2: East deals, North-South vulnerable. Deal 3: South deals, East-West vulnerable. Deal 4: West deals, both vulnerable.
• Your score. Your side's points less the other side's after the four deals, never below zero.

Strategy tips

1. Count your points before you bid. Twenty-five points between the two hands usually make a game; thirty-three a small slam.
2. Look for eight cards in a major. Four of a major is often safer than 3NT. Stayman and the transfers exist to find that fit.
3. Count your winners and losers. As declarer, count the tricks you can take at once, and plan where the rest will come from before you play to the first trick.
4. Draw trumps, then ruff. With the trumps in your hands, pull the opponents' trumps first, unless you need the short hand's trumps to ruff your losers.
5. Lead towards your honours. With the ace and queen in dummy, lead a low card from your hand: if the king sits on your left, the queen wins.
6. Defend with your partner. Lead the suit partner bid, return the suit partner led, and do not give the declarer a ruff and a discard.

FAQ

Is Contract Bridge free to play?

Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account needed.

Which rules does this follow?

The Laws of Contract Bridge for the auction and the play, and the Chicago form of rubber bridge described by pagat.com for the scoring. Honours are not scored.

Why do I play North's cards when my side declares?

A declarer plays both hands, and in a game for one player that declarer should be you. You play North's cards whenever your side wins the contract, so the auction, the opening lead and the dummy all stay as the rules have them.

Can the computer see my cards?

No. Each computer plays from what its own seat can see: its hand, the dummy once it is face up, the cards played and what the auction showed. The hard computer imagines many possible layouts of the hidden cards that fit the bidding and the play, and picks the card that works best across them.

What is the daily deal?

Every day everyone gets the same four deals against the same medium computers, so scores compare directly on the leaderboard.